I Remember That Day
by Jas2331
Summary: When he comes to rescue her, she remembers the past and how it affected the current. ShikaIno, War Arc, Rated T just to be safe. Multi-Chapter, 1-shot.
1. I Remember When

**Hey, guys! It's me again with a new story! Finally a Naruto Fic. I love Naruto fanfictions, but apparently I never wrote one. So here goes.**

**Warning: You shouldn't read this, if you're not up-to-date to at least manga number 515. Don't say I didn't warn ya!**

**Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto, but the new plots are mine. This fanfiction has been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.**

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_**I Remember That Day...**_

Sweat glistened her forehead as she effortlessly swiped it away with her backhand. Ino carefully plotted her next move in towards the Zetsu clones. Not only was she out numbered - but her teammates were practically on the other side of the battlefield on a 2 v. 3 advantage. While Ino had all odds.

She turned around and quickly did an uppercut to the Zetsu that tried to creep behind her. When she turned back around 4 Zetsu's had sly smirks on their faces and slowly walked towards her. She taught herself not to scream so easily in front of her teammates.

Over the years she had developed a small crush on one of her teammates. His laziness really provoked her, but once a person got to know him you'd see how loving he could be and humorous he was. Sure, sometimes his jokes were played out, but she still laughed because of his effort.

And not to mention how hansom he was. His soft cheeks to his lean muscles. His well-defined jaw and cheek bones, she loved his features, and not to mention how soft his hair was! And she always was inquisitive and wondered what his hair looks like when it isn't fastened in that tight hair tie. She wanted to know what his lips taste like, how his genuine smile looks like.

She was so off-topic that she got caught off guard and let one of the Zetsu's scratch her arm, the blood slowly dripped from her shoulder to her wrist. She couldn't stop herself from making a pain screeching scream. When she was just about to fire back she stopped her fist because a certain pointy haired ninja appeared in front of her and killed all the Zetsu's that harmed her.

She was so surprised to see him once again. Ino couldn't stop blushing. Shikamaru was so pissed he mad them suffer, they were sprawled on the ground. He quickly spun around and misplaced his face from pissed and annoyed to relief and laziness. "Are you OK Ino?" He smirked making her blush even more.

She saw his taunting face and frowned, "I was just about to kill them, but thanks anyway." She said while healing her arm and pouting.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just be more careful next time." He then used shunshin to get back to Choji to help kill the rest of the Zetsu's.

Just then Ino had a flashback of the last time he had said those exact words, and as she remembered, the day she fell in love with Shikamaru Nara.

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_I remember the day you saved my life._

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She was walking in a cool forest stomping with a very huge, genuine she came across a mud puddle she would stomp even harder and giggle to herself. Oh, how much she loved life right about now. All her friends got accepted too. "Ninja life will be so fun with my friends!"

She was so happy because she got accepted in the academy, and not only that, but she sat in alphabetical order next to her life-long crush, Sasuke! "Ha." She thought tauntingly, "Me and Sasuke-kun will totally hit it off. And that forehead girl won't have a chance at my future husband!"

"Hmm." Ino thought. "But that pineapple haired boy always seemed to have something in his eye when I look at him." Ino furrowed her brows a little. "And he always glares at Sasuke-kun. He better not hurt him or I don't know what I'll do."

Ino came to rest by a Sakura tree. It was so peaceful. "A little cat-nap wouldn't hurt anyone, right?" As she slowly sat down, sleep started to creep upon her, and before she knew it, she was fast asleep. Totally vulnerable to _anything._

Two Chunins were lurking in the shadows. "Heh" One of them where thinking darkly about this Yamanaka girl. They could use her to their clan's advantage. "Imagine - This will be awesome. The Yamanaka heir in our possession."

The other one looked down and played with her fingers. "This isn't a good idea brother. Maybe we should just go home." Before she could say anything else, he slapped her across the cheek, leaving a red bruise. "You! You're a sorry excuse to the Uchiha clan!" He sighed and laid his head in his hands. "I don't know why I brought you along."

"..."

Ino stretched her arms out, and with a long hard yawn, she said "That was nice." She smiled lightly at herself. "Guess I should be going." Just then she stopped and looked up to see an occupied branch. Her eyes widened as her heart skipped a beat.

"Hey."

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**A/N: That's it for this chapter! Thanks and tell me what you think. The next chapter will come soon!**

**_Thanks love,_**

**_Jas2331_**


	2. Alright

**Hey, I'm back! Thanks to the peeps who reviewed! That made me update faster :) **

**Well, here is the Second chapter! Enjoy and read on!~**

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**Thanks**

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Ino rubbed her eyes very cartoon-like. She couldn't say she wasn't the _least _bit surprised, but yes - pretty shocked. She hadn't known him for a long while, but due to his yawning and bringing a pillow to class almost everyday, what else would she expect?

She focused her hazy vision from the rubbing and stared at him.

Ino cleared her throat. _This is awkward._

"So, were you like... looking at me while I was taking a nap...?" She didn't understand the sudden heat to her cheeks, but chose to ignore it.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, uh... I was taking a nap. You came out of no where... And just woke me up. So maybe it's best for everyone to go back to sleep." Stretching his arms, he yawned and turned his back to her and fell back to sleep.

Ino looked dumbfounded. So this guy she _barely, - barely... _knew, comes to her resting spot, accuses her from waking _him _up, mocks her, then completely ignores her question, turns his back towards her and falls back to sleep - invades her private space and is rude about it too?

"Hey! You can't just waltz in _my _sleeping area, and totally ignore my question-"

He appeared in front of her before she even finished the sentence, her face immediately flushed because of the close proximity. She took a small step backward, but felt a ting in her stomach almost immediately regretting it.

"Actually, you're preventing me from sleeping, and when that happens I get mad." He stuck his hand out in a friendly gesture.

She hesitantly took it with a weird look on her face.

"I'm Shikamaru. First fact about me: Never prevent me from sleeping."

Ino nodded slowly. "Shika- Wha?"

"Shika-ma-ru."

She blinked twice before smiling. "I'm Ino."

He tilted his head to the side, with a confused look on his face. "Ino? what a weird name."

She rolled her eyes. "And Shika...ma-u isn't?"

He smiled. "You're a weird girl."

_I like it._

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**_When You Saved Me_**

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They were both sitting under the Sakura tree. Talking, well Ino did most of it. While as Shikamaru tuned her out, not on accident - but because he kept getting lost in her eyes.

_How are her eyes so... beautiful?_

"-and now we sit together!" When she finished her long story of how her and Sasuke met she looked at the retreating sun, slowly floating away, soon making a beautiful array of colors to make up a sunset.

When she redirected her eyes to Shikamaru, she saw him gazing at the sunset too. She enjoyed the silence, but felt the need to tell him she had to be heading home.

She bit her lower lip, but decided she _had _to leave, or her dad would go bazaar looking for her. "Shika, I have to go home." Ino wanted to slap herself for calling him that. His name was hard to pronounce... Hopefully he didn't take it the wrong way. She closed her eyes and prayed he didn't.

_Shika, huh? _He smirked and nodded. "Okay, Bye Ino."

She slowly got up. "I hope we could meet again, soon." She waved him off and walked away.

When Ino left he stretched back on the tree trunk and laughed silently. _She kept blushing, That's pretty cute. Maybe... When we become Genin she'll be in my team. _He scoffed. _Like that'll ever happen. I shouldn't hope on the impossible. _He furrowed his brows. _She likes Sasuke anyway._ He sighed and closed his eyes.

A few seconds later he heard a piercing shriek causing multiple crows to fly into the air and abandoning the forest. He went to source of the sound, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

When he saw Ino holding her legs to her chest on the floor, crying, and... saw... blood... he didn't hesitate to run over there. He saw two shadows over powering her little body.

Before they could cause anymore harm he used a lot of his chakra to stop one of the shadows. He decided to go for the bigger, masculine-looking one. When Ino saw the guy stop moving she looked really confused. _Did he just get... paralyzed?_ When the girl looked like she was about to strike Ino, Shikamaru instantly panicked.

But then the girl countered and hit her brother straight in the stomach, making him cough up blood. She glared at him. "Don't ever touch me again Izuna." Then the girl knocked out her brother. She picked him up but couldn't move. "Could you..."

Shikamaru looked surprised and let go of his Shadow Possession Jutsu.

"Thanks, sweet cheeks." She then disappeared into the forest.

He walked over to Ino and helped her up. "That was weird, huh?" He said laughing. Ino looked scared and just nodded, trying to stop the tears still forming in her eyes and falling down her cheeks.

"Are you OK?" He smirked as she blushed deeply.

She saw his taunting smirk. "I was about to run away from them, anyway. But Thanks." She wiped away her tears, and tried not to cry again.

He rolled his eyes. "Be more careful next time, alright?"

There was a long silence, before he saw the happy Ino he knew and... well knew.

She smiled and hugged him. "Alright."

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**A/N: That's it for this one! Thanks for the feedback from reviewers! I fixed the typos in the 1st chapter, So please review and tell me what you think. The next Chapter will be up soon. Hopefully.  
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**P.S: Sorry if it's a lil cheesy cause I was listening to Yiruma. ;)**

**P.P.S: Yiruma is a very inspirational piano player so ya. lol.**

**_Much love,_**

**_Jas2331._**


	3. Arms Length

**A/N: Hey, I totally had writer's block. I had no ideas for this chapter. But I came up with something, hopefully you guys like.**

**This takes place AFTER the war. When Ino makes up her mind.**

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**Arms Length**

**~~~/~~~**

That memory haunts her day and night now. The war just ended, and she had nothing to do with herself. Sakura was away on a mission, Hinata was on a date with her blissful boyfriend Naruto, and she never really liked TenTen much. Neji died, Lee scared her and so did Shino. Kiba was probably sleeping, Choji was most likely eating at B-B-Q.

So that only left one more. The man who has taken away endless nights of sleep, who has taken away her thoughts - only reserving them for him, and especially... now her heart.

And he didn't even know it.

Much less did he acknowledge it - he always kept her at _arms length._

Never hugged her because he needed his _personal space. _And what broke her heart is that he keeps ignoring her or ending their conversations with 'I have to go... buy groceries... for my mom."

And lately he's been avoiding her. She hasn't got the courage to talk to him about it. Ino knows when she's not wanted, but she hates these feelings. She tries to forget about him, she tries to sleep, talk to Sakura without _him _getting into the conversation. She just can't do it... Why?

Ino got off her bed and headed down stairs, she turned on her T.V and put a cup of Insta-Ramen in the microwave. Maybe a movie will clear her head.

**~~~/~~~**

Shikamaru was about to tear his hair out. He was going _insane. _Thinking of Ino all day, all night. He couldn't sleep. What was his problem? Why him?! God knows Ino didn't have feelings for his lazy ass. Shikamaru can't stop.

He's lying on his bed looking at the ceiling, 19 and not doing a single damn thing but think of a girl- _women, _out of his league. _Way _out of his league, he thought anyway.

What would a woman of her standards be doing now? It was nearly 10:30 P.M. She never slept - Sakura told him. The pink haired ninja said Ino was always thinking of someone and never had a pinch of sleep nowadays. He was worried but surely this person she thinks of must be a man and she much be romantically linked to him to be thinking of him that much.

That pierced a steak into his heart. His stomach did somersaults when he saw her walking down the road. He just _had _to turn around and avoid her. He felt her sad eyes pierce through his back. When he would turn around she had already left. He couldn't help but feel terrible. There friendship was fading.

After the war he started to think of her in a way he thought her never would. These emotions came out of nowhere, so yes - he's been avoiding her. When he talked to her his face got so sweaty and his hands felt clammy. He couldn't hug her anymore because of this. It would be such a turn off.

His hands behind his head, he thought how it got to this. He distinguished the thought, it would be too long to remember. He didn't care about how he met her, all he knew was that he fell in love with her. He'd be damned if he lived another day without the woman he loved. With a purpose - he got off his bed and headed to Ino's house. Rejection or not he was going to tell her how he felt.

**~~~/~~~**

Ino took a shower and put on pajama shorts, a tank top and put her hair a messy bun. She got the Ramen and curled up on the couch. Turning on Netflix she put on _Love And Honor. _"I love this movie!" She squealed in delight. Ino got comfortable and pressed play. About 30 minutes into the movie her Ramen finished. Sighing, she threw the cup away and decided to heat up some popcorn.

When she got the Popcorn out of the pantry, Ino casually looked at the clock above the stove which displayed: 11:25 P.M. "Wow, time really passes when you don't think about the man you love..." Ino said to herself bitterly.

She decided to put away the Popcorn and head upstairs to go to sleep.

Just when she turns off her T.V she hears a knock on her door. Two gentle knocks that sound eager and nervous but some-what impetuous. She was surprised, who would come to a person's house this late? She cautiously walked over to the door and looked through the peep hole. _Oh my God, It's Shikamaru! _Her heart was beating so fast she was pretty sure he could hear it from the other side of the door.

She opened the door and saw his eyes, they looked so passionate. Like he was hungry for some type of love. She let a smile cross her lips. "Hi." But she tried to make it look real, because what she really wanted was to fall in his arms and yell and scream at him for not being there when she needed him.

He saw that expression. He didn't waste any more time.

Shikamaru closed the space around them. He swept her into his arms and without hesitation he started to kiss her. She kissed him with as much force. With her in his arms, she put her hands in his hair and played with his scrunchie, he hugged her tighter he pulled away when he saw her crying. He put her down and kissed her tears.

"I don't care if you hate me, I just have to tell you. I'm so sorry for how I've treated you. I'll never treat you like that ever again." Shikamaru started to tear up. "Because I can't stop thinking about you" He said sincerely. "You... You stole everything from me, my sleeping time, my thinking time, and my heart. I won't keep you at arms length anymore. Never again."

His voice became shaky now, "Because I love you and I'll show you everyday. Flowers, Roses, Everything." He kissed more of her tears away. "I love you."

Ino smiled. "Oh My God! Shika I love you too, you love sick idiot!" She giggled and kissed his lips very gently. Shikamaru smiled. "You accept my apology?"

"Of course."

"By the way, what time is it?" She asked.

"Um. Not sure, Let me check." Ino walked over to the kitchen and saw the clock, which displayed: 12:00

"Twelve on the dot, babe." She gasped. They just started dating and she already called him babe. Hopefully he didn't hear the last part.

"What?"

_Thank You God._

"12:00 Shika."

She walked over to him and she saw a sly smirk on his face. "Oh okay _babe_."

Ino rolled her eyes. "You can't go back home now, wanna stay over?"

He thought for a minute. And came up with an interesting response. He walked over to her and put his arms around her smaller frame. He kissed her cheek, and she smelt his intoxicating cologne. "Only if I sleep in your bed."

She shrugged. "OK." she took his hand and headed for the staircase. "What? I was just kidding."

He saw the sad in her eyes. "Really?"

He wasn't that dumb, of course he wanted to sleep in her bed! "No, Babe lets go."

Shikamaru picked her up bridle style and went to her room. "I can get use to this Ino."

Ino scoffed "No you can't." She smiled and kissed his chin.

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**A/N: I Know, weird ending... but I had writers block! _ **

**Hope you liked it R&R!**

_**Much Love,**_

_**Jas2331.**_


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